The rain gutter system is an essential component for any home or building. The rain gutter system collects rain runoff from the entire surface area of the building's roof and transfers the runoff to a drainage system. Without a properly functioning rain gutter system, that same runoff is forced to the edge of the roof where it then falls onto the grounds adjacent to the building. This can obstruct visibility through windows underneath the roof edge and also produce excessive noise as the rain runoff aggregates into larger droplets or flows of water that drop from the roof to the ground adjacent to the building. Worse yet, rain runoff that is not properly redirected to drainage systems can result in flooding as the aggregate rain from the surface area of the roof is pooled to a much smaller area in the grounds adjacent to the building. This can cause damage to the foundation of the building and ruin landscaping. Beyond these functional roles, rain gutter systems also serve an aesthetic purpose to some by providing a bordering to the roof.
Rain gutter systems for homes and other buildings with sloped roofs have not changed for several decades. The standard rain gutter system involves U-shaped channels that overhang from the edge of the roof and that collect the rain runoff. The channels are interconnected at a slope so as to force the collected rain runoff to one end of the channel where the rain runoff is funneled into an enclosed channel that spans the vertical height of the home or building. The enclosed channel then redirects the rain runoff into a drainage system or other plumbing that moves the water away from the home.
While effective in their roles, these systems are in need of radical redesign to lower the cost of goods, reduce installation time and cost, and provide an alternative in building aesthetics. With regards to the cost of goods, standard overhanging rain gutter systems are produced with an unnecessary amount of raw materials. Specifically, the U-shaped channels that funnel the rain runoff from the roof are three-sided segments. Each three-sided segment includes material for a right lateral side, a left lateral side, and a bottom side with the material comprising either metal, aluminum, or hardened plastic. Therefore, one way to lower the cost of goods associated with standard rain gutter systems is to provide a redesigned system that does not need as many raw materials or, more specifically, provide a redesigned system that performs the same functional roles with a two-sided or single-sided channel. In so doing, the cost of the raw materials needed for a gutter system is effectively reduced by a half or two-thirds.
With regards to installation time and cost, installation of a standard overhanging rain gutter is normally beyond the capabilities of the typical do-it-yourselfer and requires a contractor or one or more handymen to perform the installation. This is because of the danger that is involved in installing any structure to the edge of a roof irrespective of the fact that the channels are heavy and require one person to hold the channel in place while another secures the channel to the roof. Installation is also time-consuming because several brackets must be drilled, nailed, or otherwise secured to the roof in order to support the weight of the channels spanning the entire width of the roof. Moreover, overhanging rain gutters can damage the roof itself as water can enter through the mounting points of the brackets and thereby seep into and damage the underlying wood framework for the roof. Also, the brackets must be precisely installed so as to support the channels at an appropriate angle, thereby producing the slope by which gravity pulls the collected rain runoff to one end of the channel. An unforeseen cost is also the time or money needed to clear these systems from leaf and other debris buildup that could otherwise clog or render such systems ineffective. Every so often, someone has to remove such blockages from the channels. This can be done by the building owner with a ladder, but the time required to do so is nevertheless a cost.
As architecture has evolved, the standard rain gutter system has not. With regards to aesthetics, the look of the overhanging gutter system has become so commonplace that it is either ignored or viewed as an eyesore by some. Consequently, the standard rain gutter system simply does not conform aesthetically with the architecture or other design elements of some homes or buildings.
Accordingly, there is a need for an entirely new and improved rain gutter system. Such a system should be cheaper to manufacture, easier to install, and provide a different aesthetic on the home or building that is installed with such a system. Moreover, these advantages should be achieved without other tradeoffs with respect to effectiveness in removing rain runoff from the roof and without the introduction of other costs in maintenance, repair, or damage caused to the home or building that is installed with the rain gutter system.